WIMBLEDON — Two weeks ago, Belinda Bencic was only able to win three games from Ekaterina Alexandrova, falling 6-1, 6-2 in the Bad Homburg first round in her first match back from an arm injury.
On Monday, she turned the tables on the No. 18 seed 7-6(4), 6-4 to reach the first Wimbledon quarterfinal of her career, and her first Grand Slam quarterfinal as a mother, in 1 hour and 57 minutes.
Wimbledon: Scores | Order of play | Draws
In a thrilling dénouement, Alexandrova saved five match points — four with clean forehand winners — as Bencic served for the match at 5-3 in the second set before converting her fourth break point of the game to get back on serve. But from 30-0 down in the subsequent game, the Swiss player rattled off the last four points of the match, sealing victory on her sixth match point as an Alexandrova forehand drifted long. She edges ahead of Alexandrova 5-4 in their overall head-to-head.
The 28-year-old gave birth to daughter Bella in April 2024 and returned to action, unranked, in October that year. She’s already back up to No. 35 after strong performances including a fourth-round run at the Australian Open and the Abu Dhabi title in February — and despite missing Roland Garros due to injury.
Bencic has significant grass-court pedigree — she was the 2013 Wimbledon junior winner, the 2015 Eastbourne champion and has reached three further tour-level finals on the surface — but had been denied in the last 16 of Wimbledon on three previous occasions, all by sometime World No. 1s. In 2015, she fell to Victoria Azarenka, in 2018 to eventual champion Angelique Kerber and in 2022 she missed two match points against Iga Swiatek.
“I always got stuck in the fourth round,” Bencic said afterwards. “So it was really important for me to break through to the quarterfinal … it’s really a dream come true.”
Passing this stage for the first time at SW19 means that Bencic advances to her fourth Grand Slam quarterfinal overall, first outside the US Open and first since Flushing Meadows in 2021. Alexandrova is still waiting for her first major quarterfinal, and adds a third fourth-round loss to two previous at Wimbledon 2023 and Roland Garros 2025. Bencic will next face either No. 7 seed Mirra Andreeva or No. 10 seed Emma Navarro as she bids to reach her second Slam semifinal, and first since the 2019 US Open.
Match moments: Both players came out striking the ball cleanly from the off, but Bencic was sharper in taking her opportunities: across the first five games, she converted her first two break points of the match while saving the first three she faced to take a 4-1 lead. Alexandrova fought back, unleashing a series of excellent forehands to level at 5-5. But Bencic was more solid in the tiebreak, coming from 3-0 down and converting her first set point as an Alexandrova backhand went long.
Bencic sustained her form into the second set, and though she missed her first two break points at 2-1, she came out on top of a brilliant all-court point to capture the Alexandrova serve for 5-3.
Just as she had in the first set, Alexandrova found her best and boldest tennis when behind. The 30-year-old had the No. 1 Court crowd on the edge of their seats as she clung on to come through an eight-deuce game and break back. But in another echo of the opener, Alexandrova could not press home her advantage to take the set. From 30-0 up, a fortuitous dead net cord for Bencic levelled the game at 30-30. The 2021 Olympic gold medallist seized her opportunity, hammering her 24th winner of the day to bring up yet another match point, and converting when the Alexandrova forehand finally let her down.
“For you guys it was entertaining, but for me it was the biggest stress,” Bencic said in her on-court interview. “It was very difficult moment — you’re trying to serve it out but your body is not listening to what your mind is saying. Crazy stress in the end.”
Reversing the Bad Homburg result: How had Bencic managed to reverse the Bad Homburg scoreline so effectively? It was as simple as having spent the intervening time gaining more reps.
“I think I tried to be more brave,” she said. “Of course, I had a few weeks of good practice and some matches under my belt. I’m really happy this turned out better than the last time I played her. I think she’s such a tough opponent, playing such clean and powerful shots — it’s always very difficult to play her. I actually really enjoyed this match inside, maybe you didn’t see that!”
